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Blame game in India / Dancing on graves By Yossi Melman Tags: Mumbai Chabad, israel news  Click here for more articles by Yossi Melman For an illustration of "dancing on one's grave," one need only look to Indian politicians reacting to the Mumbai terror attacks. Already on Friday, as special forces and naval units were fighting the terrorists and bodies were being taken out of the hotels and Chabad House, the nationalist BJP opposition published giant advertisements in local newspapers blaming the government, led by the Indian National Congress, for surrendering to terror and accusing it of being "unable and unwilling to deal with terrorism." India is in the midst of an electoral process, clearly seen in Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and his foreign minister's rushing to lay blame, hinting that Pakistan stands behind the attacks. Advertisement Indeed, there are sure signs pointing to a "Pakistani connection." Some of the terrorists are of Pakistani origin, and some arrived in Mumbai by sea in small boats, leading to the suspicion they were brought there by larger boats. According to the Indian security services, some of the terrorists were linked to, and in the past operated with, the Pakistani terror group Lashkar-e-Taiba, which was outlawed in Pakistan in 2003. The organization was created by Pakistan's influential spy service, the Directorate for Inter-Services Intelligence, or ISI, which over the years continued to support it and other Islamic groups. The ISI and the Pakistani Army used the Islamic groups as a whip to weaken India as part of its strategy to return Kashmir to Pakistani sovereignty. The fact that the ISI essentially created the Taliban in Afghanistan indicates that the use of radical Islamist groups and violence as a means to an end is not foreign to Islamabad, but even the Pakistanis soon realized that the golem had turned on his creator. Pakistan has seen the rise recently of a Pakistani Taliban operating in the North-West Frontier Province that uses terrorism against the central government. Even before that, former president Gen. Pervez Musharraf understood that he could not, as did his predecessors from the army, "dance at every wedding" by secretly aiding terror groups, while maintaining publicly that their hands were clean. Amid pressure from the Indian government, and following the September 11 attacks and the U.S. invasion of Afghanistan, Pakistan was ordered to take action against the terror groups. Many were outlawed, but were able to survive under different names and to continue receiving quiet support from current or former elements in the military and intelligence services. Ultimately, many members of the Pakistani elite in both the army and intelligence have come to understand that they are playing with fire. The militant organizations rebelled against Musharraf himself, several times trying to assassinate him. Musharraf launched a campaign of forging ties and seeking compromises with India, and now Pakistan has, for the first time since Musharraf's 1999 coup, a democratically elected government. The government of Asif Ali Zardari, the widower of slain president Benazir Bhutto (herself a victim of Pakistani terror, whose face has yet to be revealed), is making every effort to improve relations with India, and for the first time is trying to put an end to the bloody conflict that has persisted since the Subcontinent's partition in 1947. Zardari went one step further, telling India that Pakistan was willing to commit to never using its nuclear weapons. Just a few days before the Mumbai attacks, the two countries' interior ministers met in an attempt to advance cooperation in fighting terrorism. While the Mumbai attacks raged, the Pakistani foreign minister was in Delhi, attending a similar meeting. It is, therefore, extremely difficult to believe the Pakistani government, army or intelligence services was officially or directly involved in the attacks. It would not be in the interest of the Pakistani government, and it is conceivable that army or intelligence sources unhappy with Zardari's policy would secretly aid the terrorists not only to harm and undermine India, but also to compromise relations between the countries. It is difficult to believe that official elements, even without government approval, aided the terrorists in preparing the meticulously planned terror operation, which is considered the worst in India's history. Should the terrorists turn out to be "homegrown," that is, an Indian Muslim group seeking to harm the central government over its treatment of the 150 million-strong Muslim minority, there can be no doubt that this is a radical Islamic terror group whose roots lie in Pakistan, and that it seeks to undermine India as a country. Still more important is the fact that the group targeted hotels favored by Western tourists and a Jewish institution; it indicates this a group that derives inspiration from global jihad, that is, from the madrasa of Osama bin Laden. Bookmark to del.icio.us   Venezuela's Jews Jewish community head: 'Chavez's government endorses anti-Semitism.' Breakthrough start-up WATCH: Israeli company invents radiation-free lung imaging system.   1.   India`s Fault: Minority appeasement 22:55  |  Jim 30/11/08   2.   PAKISTAN GUILTY OF NOT DOING ENOUGH TO PREVENT THESE GROUPS 23:54  |  dp 30/11/08   3.   BLame game in India 00:11  |  Vijay D 01/12/08   4.   Mumbai Attack 03:00  |  Ruz 01/12/08   5.   blame game 03:32  |  the Patriot 01/12/08   6.   Yossi Melman is not Ze`ev Schiff 04:04  |  Mark Lincoln 01/12/08   7.   Its Iran/palistinean`s 04:08  |  Abe 01/12/08   8.   Vijay D 04:11  |  Mark Lincoln 01/12/08   9.   Earth to Yossi Melman, Earth to Yossi, come in 04:25  |  Mark Lincoln 01/12/08   10.   Pakistan brews Terror 05:29  |  Sam Weintraub 01/12/08   11.   Pakistan is also plagued by Muslim extremists 06:05  |  judith 01/12/08   12.   No Real Difference between Indian Moslems and Pakistanis 06:45  |  UsedToPostHere 01/12/08   13.   India must come up with solid proof 08:10  |  Andrei 01/12/08   14.   India Pakistan: ISI RAW BJP 17:55  |  Abd 01/12/08   15.   Same Wine Different Bottle 18:49  |  Secular Muslim 01/12/08   16.   Blame game in India/Dancing on graves 23:34  |  Sunil 01/12/08   17.   reply to Jim 02:28  |  Truth 02/12/08   18.   Andrei and evidene 02:31  |  Truth 02/12/08   19.   Motives 04:53  |  VRK 02/12/08   20.   Just Black & White, no Grey! 13:53  |  Wise SOLOMON 02/12/08   21.   dancing on grave 16:37  |  balvinder 02/12/08   22.   resposes 16:48  |  balvinder 02/12/08   23.   Thanks U 19:45  |  Indian 02/12/08   24.   Pakistan is a terrorist state 15:16  |  Udayakumar 26/12/08

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